According to Ron Eglash, Computing Power is not only a measure of digital power but a tool of social authority. The first step in understanding this relation is to let go of the 'realist critique' that says things that are real (not simulations) are inherently better. This oversimplified division between the real and the simulation does not allow us to see the relationship that computing power has with social power. 

Computing Power is defined by three characteristics: Speed, Interactivity and Memory; which also define its social authority. Speed allows for virtual reality and the super computing necessary to create movie special effects and Superbowl halftime shows. The power to render new realities is great public appeal and creates social power. Interactivity can not be measured like speed, but one can still determine more and less interactive computing. Low interactivity is button clicking to initialize an event- high interactivity creates endless possibilities dependent on the user input. Eglash talks of the "trickle down economy" of interactivity due to bandwidth capabilities of the elites versus the rest of us. Memory is also important because it is necessary to sustain any big, socially important projects, from Myspace and Youtube or the Human Genome Project. Thus, the social project can only go on as far as the computer memory can hold.

Computing Power is in the hands of the elite and the "cutting edge" while the rest of us are a "trailing shadow". To get the computer power working for humanitarian efforts, we must study how to define our problems in a way that supercomputers can understand and process. We also need to understand that the ecologies we are creating are simulations that need to be proven as real as possible through a digital medium. By utilizing speed, interactivity, and memory we can create ecologies that are visually appealing, aesthetically real rather than analog, and will engage social communication or authority with the page.

Eglash, Ron. "Computing Power ." Software Studies: a lexicon. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2008. 55-64 . Print.